MISCmedia for 6/19/00
The Next Step?

IN THE FOUR MONTHS OR SO since we started the MISCmedia print magazine, we've been trying to resolve some of the differences between the print and online versions.

Right now, a lot of material appears online (including some stuff I'm rather proud of) that doesn't make the cut for the limited print space we can currently barely afford to create.

One answer would be to revamp the online version.

All the print content would still appear on the site, but the concept of a full-length column every weekday would change--into something more like the group of short comments idea behind the original Misc. column.

I've been toying and experimenting offline with a site revamp that would have links to the print magazine's pieces along one side of the page, and an ever-changing daily column thang on the other side. This would be made like those "Weblog" sites, with new items added at the top daily and old items eventually scrolling off the bottom.

On the ever-proverbial other hand, there is something nice about this here site being a refuge for semi-serious argumentative thought on the Web, where so much else seems to be a deluge of briefs, half-thought-out Attitude statements, and links to links to links.

Thoughts or ideas on any of this? Lemme know.

IN OTHER NEWS: Saw the Fremont Solstice Parade on Saturday. Besides the clever and fancy human-propelled floats (including a locomotive decorated with high-rise condos threatening to run over humans dressed as little houses) and the tight performing groups (including two dozen belly dancers in choreographed formations), the event was highlighted, as always, by the now world-famous Naked Bicyclists. (I met several spectators from out-of-state who'd read about the bikers in nudist-advocacy magazines and had gone to the parade just for them.)

This year, the bikers expanded upon their act. Most of the real nudies (as usual for the event, about two-thirds male) wore elaborate body paint; the faux-nudies in the group donned fig-leaf decorations atop their flesh-tone body stockings. As they've done in prior years, they not only appeared at the parade's start but weaved back and forth, through and between the "official" parade attractions.

The regular parade performers also got into the act this year. Several troupes included one or more women wearing decorative pasties in lieu of tops. The final float starred a bare-breasted woman with henna body paint standing proudly atop a tall float (a la the Rio samba parades), waving to spectators young and old as the goddess she knew she was.

All in all: A great way to celebrate the human form and the summer sun, to playfully "rebel" for a moment against social put-ons, and to help teach children that bodies are nothing to be scared of or offended at.

(More about this tomorrow.)

TOMORROW: Will the real Idiots please stand up?

ELSEWHERE:

• Anybody remember Y2K?....
• The results are in: "most Americans are not that interested in Canada" (found by A Boy and His Basement)....
• There are not only fan sites for soft drinks, there are fan sites for soft drinks' store-brand imitations! (found by Slumberland)....

RECENT HIGHLIGHTS:

• Differences between the real world and the world of movies.
• That other monopoly Paul Allen used to co-own.
• Results from yet another of our fun little questionnaires.
• What you're reading, besides this site.
• Will WTO-protest nostalgia become as tiresome as Woodstock nostalgia? It's easy to foresee....
• Some activities that just aren't as much fun in one's forties.
• How rap music morphed from celebrating black intelligence to white stupidity.
• Some more possible Microsoft penalties.
• Never mind Never Mind Nirvana.
• A few things you might think are true but which are not.
• Why Seattle (hearts) film.
• The city Paul Allen's building.
• The typeface that's taking over the world.
• Napster-mania.
• Why sweatshoppers love to sell images of rule-breakin' "rebels."

ARCHIVES:

• 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