Restart, Shutdown, Sleep

Margaret Moser: Aim your browsers to the sites below, all winners in the South by Southwest Interactive website competition. Because I first looked at each of these sites as winners and not with their competition, it was a free-for-all web-surfing for the average Net junkie/rube like me; so I decided to review these in chat-room style ; ) When I look at a site, I want to see a decent, quick-loading graphic, succinct info about the page or a clear indicator of where to go, how to get there, and updated links, so I decided to grade these by my own arbitrary standards - LOL!

• BEST BAND WEBSITE www.countingcrows.com Awfully moody in appearance for such a weenie band but very easy to navigate. The usual chat-with-Adam, rah-rah Crows kind of stuff. Did neither Dash Rip Rock or Marilyn Manson enter? B+

• BEST BUSINESS (NON-PROFIT) WEBSITE www.komen.org The site of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, a Java-heavy but invaluable and very user-friendly resource site that offers direction and reference without being too depressing or clinical. A

• BEST BUSINESS (PROFIT) WEBSITE ftp.designedge.com I surfed through this three screens before I had a clue about what this snazzily designed but annoyingly vague site was about: Product design. Hmmph. Looked good but took too long to figure for this user. B-

• BEST DESIGNED (HIGH RES) WEBSITE www.construct.net Intriguing design that specializes in multi-user, multi-protocol sites. Net-savvy types will love it! A

• BEST DESIGNED (LO-RES) WEBSITE www.sapermedia.com This is what I had in mind when I said succinct info about the site at your fingertips. A+

• BEST EDUCATIONAL WEBSITE www.nationalgeographic.com/ features/97/bureau I made new cartoon friends here with I.B., Sara, Sam, and Marisol (whew! covered the PC spectrum!) on this National Geographic site for kids. FYI, the downside on what was always a big plus for NG-reading kids: No nakedness A

• BEST EVENT-RELATED WEBSITE www.blockbuster.com/awards/index.html This was a lot more fun than I expected even though I got to it the day after the Oscars, and their attention to the Awards was a point in BB's favor since their censoring of ratings and titles such as The Last Temptation of Christ rankled me. You can't even get the unrated version of The Bad Lieutenant there! A

• BEST FILM-RELATED WEBSITE www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/HRC/HRHRC/DOS/GWTW/GWTW.html Glory Hallelujah! Now this is my idea of a website! It's for UT's Ransom Center's Gone With the Wind Collection and it is TDF!!!! Costumes! Make-up! The David O. Selznick Collection! How in the world did we manage to get this stuff out of Atlanta?? ^5 to designer Steve Wilson! A+!!

• BEST MUSIC INDUSTRY WEBSITE www.nortropic.com/mangopunch Another snazzy but Java-heavy site, this one is bilingual. It's easy to see why it won - it has appealing graphics and is easy to navigate, but I couldn't get the sound file to work on my Mac. Worse, since this site is for a band, I looked at the calendar of tour dates... through February. Ack! This is March. Update! A-

• BEST NONE-OF-THE-ABOVE WEBSITE www.findwaldo.com A web version of the popular "Where's Waldo?" puzzle. BTW, I suggest a similar version for SXSW. A+

• BEST ON-LINE COMMERCE WEBSITE www.killerfonts.com For sheer originality and humor in the face of madness, this site can't be beat. The designers took handwriting from notorious killers such as Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, and Lizzie Borden and made working fonts from them, usable on PCs or Mac. There are also fonts for Dead Presidents, Dictators, Brainiacs, Cowboys, and Notables. I spent waaaay too long on this site and loved every page of it. A++!!

• BEST PERSONAL WEBSITE www.spacegirl.org Beautifully conceived and stylish - no wonder it won! ^5! This personal homepage of illustrator/designer Angela Martini doubles as a web resumé and cyber-advertisement for Martini's multi-talents. A+

• BEST PRODUCT WEBSITE www.cerwinvega.com Pretty dry subject matter for the average surfer, but well-designed, needless to say. This site for Cervin-Vega loudspeakers and other products is very friendly, even to a rube like me LOL. A

• BEST RECREATIONAL/SPORT WEBSITE www.trackwire.com Laid out like a newspaper, Trackwire is homebase for runners who surf the Net. Clean, easy to read and get around, and with clear links and quick loading pics. As a non-sports fan, it even held my interest. A

• BEST TRAVEL WEBSITE www.wandering.com Another down-the-rabbithole site that sucked me in as soon as I landed on it. I clicked on Fair Verona and was led through an engaging travelogue, in which I learned that the town is home to Teatro Roma - the second largest surviving Roman coliseum - and saw the statue of Juliet on QuickTime video. Brava! A+

• BEST HOME-RELATED WEBSITE www.recipeguys.com Yum! The Recipe Guys have a tasty little site here for recipe trading and talk. BTW, it has a very cartoony style to it but was both charming and easy to navigate. Plus, it left me hungry. A+

• BEST GAMING WEBSITE www.comedycentral.com/southpark/shootup I guess I don't have ShockWave on my computer because all I could see here was an empty graphic block. This sucks because I really love South Park and think Trey Parker rules. Also, I was hoping for something of a little more traditional gaming orientation. Still, it gets high marks on blind faith. A

Margaret Moser: So there it is, the Rube's Guide to 1998's SXSW Interactive winners in the website competition. For next year, I would like to see even more exploration into gaming on the Net via SXSW Interactive. Meanwhile, take a look at this year's honored sites - there'll be something there for you!