MISCmedia for 5/25/00
Scootin'

AN EARLY REMINDER to make plans for our MISCmedia@1 party on Thursday, June 8, starting around 7:30 p.m., at the quaint Ditto Tavern, 5th and Bell. Yeah, it's 21 and over.

THE FINE PRINT (on a bag of Starburst Hard Candy): "Enjoyment tip: While enjoying candy or other food, avoid activities that could cause it/them to accidentally lodge in your throat."

SEEN THOSE NEW SCOOTERS? I don't mean the Euro-chic mini-motorcycles, tho' those are eternally cool and making a slight comeback these days.

No, I mean that other definition of a scooter, a kind of metal skateboard with a steering pole in front.

It's taken a while, but clever engineers in Japan and elsewhere have turned the once-lowly child's toy into something hot, hi-tech, and even useful.

The Razor Micro Skate Scooter and its rivals are sleek aluminum hotties (some models have retro-surfboard wood bases). They fold up for easy carrying. With their ultramod plastic-polymer wheels and their tight mechanical braking mechanisms, they're steadier and safer than skateboards in street use by non-expert riders.

They'd be ideal fair-weather commuting tools in communities flatter than mine. But even in hill-ridden Seattle, they can be used for more than just rolling around Green Lake. Because they're easy to carry when not in use, you can quickly get off and walk when the road up or down gets too steep; and because you can quickly fold them into standby mode, you can jump onto a bus or ferry boat.

I've got a birthday coming up. Anybody wanna get me one?

TOMORROW: Napster-mania.

ELSEWHERE:

• From haggis to Velveeta, there's a whole world of "weird and disgusting foods" (found by usr/bin/girl)....
• The ultimate gift for the soon-to-be ex-mate or ex-boss: dead flowers....

RECENT HIGHLIGHTS:

• Why sweatshoppers love images of superstrong "rebels."
• It's still square to be hip.
• Could open-source software be the next big anti-Gates hope?
• Pre-announcing our newest feature, "My MISCmedia."
• Mount St. Helens, still booming in our hearts.
• You don't have to be a Republican to be tired of Sixties Generation self-congratulation.
• A fresh slant on the Seattle library design.
• Are we finally in the pre-post-PC era?
• How to be a male feminist without hating yourself.
• The new adolescent gender stereotype.
• Electric cars--here now at last, pretty soon, maybe.
• Could a split Microsoft be a bigger threat than a whole one?
• American Psycho as anticapitalist tool.
• Modern art as capitalist tool.
• Prepare to say goodbye to the Children's Hospital thrift store.

ARCHIVES:

• 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, and 1986-94 columns
• Reviews of literature & art, nonfiction & culture criticism, movies & videos, and music & noise
• Longer articles and essays
• The origin and future of MISCmedia