All Hail Henry Earl
www.monkeygumbo.com/wee/news/henryearl
Henry Earl is a bona fide Internet Legend. He's famous as perhaps the most-arrested man in America. His legend has been fed by the fact that he takes a helluva mug shot. The poor celebrities who are up on TheSmokingGun could take a lesson or two from Henry when it comes to looking dapper in front of a corrections facility camera. But, you know, Henry ought to be good at it; he's been arrested over 900 times—most of them for public drunkeness.
And you thought your life was drab
www.itsjerrytime.com
This is a strangely compelling series of Quicktime movies. Jerry's adventures include getting hassled over popcorn in a bar, altercations with a landlord, and working in inappropriate jobs. He's kind of a cross between Willy Loman and Jerry Seinfeld. The animation is a bit disturbing. The photos are stretched and distorted, not unlike a Terry Gilliam animation that's been left out on the dash on a hot summer day. So let's wrap that up: it's a cross between Seinfeld, Death of a Salesmen, and melted Monty Python—sort of.
A Yen for Cashing in
www.japander.com
Ever wonder why you rarely see big Hollywood stars in commercials? Did you think it was because of artistic integrity? Well, it ain't. It's because they are too busy shilling liquor and cigarettes in the Land of the Rising Sun to be spending time hawking Tampax Stateside. Well, thanks to Japander.com you can now enjoy some of the finest work of some of Hollywood's biggest celebrities. It might make you a little sad that the commercials we get are so friggin' lame though.
If I only knew how to curse in Hebrew....
www.wannaspell.com
The premise? You're in a 'chat room' with a bunch of other people. The mode of communication is to drag letters around to spell words. Although the site encourages you to be 'patient and open-minded' and to 'think positive,' on my visits there I noted a great deal of antisocial behavior. Most of it was just the typical spelling out of profanity, but one person was busily dragging letters to one corner of the screen, piling them up to keep others from using them—a linguistic land grab. Who says the Internet doesn't mirror the real world? The site is available in French, English, Russian, German, and Hebrew.