ciFi Slacker is a slickly put-together SF webzine, a nexus of news, reviews and links that makes a great stopping-place for any fan interested in reading up on the SF field. Skewed more to screen media than print SF, it is a particularly good resource for data on beloved television shows, movies and collectible tie-in merchandise.
The heart and soul of this site is its portal of links. Indexed by an array of topics—from Hollywood stars who have appeared in various SF movies to human space exploration—SciFi Slacker points outward to a wide range of relevant sites. At the same time, it does not function merely as a referral service: It hosts message boards, for example, and a cartoon. The Web page also posts reviews of movies, TV shows, music, toys and sometimes even books. (Its Web masters are actively seeking volunteer reviewers to cover a long list of recent films and books, so fans with a passionate opinion about the latest Harry Potter novel or The Matrix: Reloaded might want to check their submission guidelines!) Additionally, SciFi Slacker has a smattering of e-postcards from various films and shows.
Finally—and especially for any would-be slacker who is simply looking to waste a few enjoyable minutes on the Web—a definite don't-miss on this site is its collection of games. With a rudimentary SF word search puzzle, some scrambled-up classic film posters and a handful of Flash-intensive diversions with suggestive names like Alien Hangman and Whack-A-Dalek, these games are simple and silly enough to brighten a dismal day or provide a site visitor with a hearty laugh.
— A.M. Dellamonica
Site of the Week—February 17, 2004
cientific breakthroughs have always provided a fertile source of inspiration for artists. SF writers explore the potential of new discoveries as fast as scientists can make them, pushing the envelope of what is known while speculating about possible future findings. Similarly, illustrators can take ecologists' direst predictions about global warming (or any other consequence of human excess) and use them to create horrifying vistas of ravaged Earths of the near future.
At DNA Music Central, science provides a different sort of creative genesis for art. The site's name says it all: The human genome is used as the basis for a series of 24 musical compositions, one song derived from each of chromosomes 1 through 22, plus another from the X
and Y chromosomes. Visitors to the site can listen to 30-second samples from each and every piece of music in this oddball collection of electronica.
DNA Music Central and its songs are the creation of Henry Allan Hargrove, a composer whose passion is sampling human DNA and recoding it into musical form. His site is simple, barely more than a single page, and reflects a single-minded determination to create and disseminate this music. Though the page includes an essay outlining the nature of DNA and the genetic music derived therefrom, its primary purpose is not to educate but to share samples of Hargrove's music with anyone who happens to surf by.
Due to this narrow focus, DNA Music Central's sole link out to the rest of the Internet takes visitors to a scientific article about the history of genetic music, one that details the various uses to which this music can be put by researchers. Art, in this case, furthers the work of scientists, who return the favor in an endless feedback loop.
— A.M. Dellamonica
Site of the Week—February 9, 2004
he English-speaking world is divided into two kinds of people: Those who find it fascinating to browse the Oxford English Dictionary, and those who don't. If you are one of the former—a word-head, an etymology nut, a lover of language—and you are also a reader of SF, then you need to visit the site known as Science Fiction Citations for the OED. Here, you will not only be rewarded with fascinating tidbits about the derivation of many words found in the SF literary canon (and that includes SF criticism and SF fandom), but you'll also become part of a vast distributed project, contributing to scholarship and the unending quest for meaning that characterizes the OED.
The layout of this site is simplicity itself. The main page describes the project: amateur word sleuths of all stripes are invited to offer citations ("cites") that will help nail down the ultimate origins of SF words in the three areas of literature, criticism and fandom. Clicking on those three buttons brings up the list of words in play. Here's where the truly alluring and mysterious atmosphere begins. By each word is the trail to date: cites and their contributors in a chain extending ever backward in time. The roll call of players is a Who's Who of the genre. Can you beat the earliest date so far adduced? Get cracking! Perhaps you can offer a cite that fills in a long gap or brings a word seemingly abandoned into the present. In any case, you'd best click on "How to Cite" so you can learn the necessary format.
But just reading the lists is educational. Did you have a hunch that Philip K. Dick invented the term "precog"? Well, you were right. When exactly did Theodore Sturgeon coin "Sturgeon's Law"? And why was it first called "Sturgeon's Revelation"? All these answers and more await you—and also the chance to go down in history as the person who found a reference to "death rays" earlier than 1919!
— Paul Di Filippo
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