web sites

Travelog.net

http://www.travelog.net/

There may be some expensive electronics in John Berns's backpack, but the contradictions are no more acute than for a generation of budget travellers. In any case, he's an interactive media pro, so it's natural for his passion for travel and photography to coincide on the Web. The aim is to be as "real time" as possible, so the current Hong Kong leg of the trip is updated daily. But just as interesting may be the advice on how best to deploy a ThinkPad and digital camera while moving from hostel to hostel. Like all backpakcers, Berns is not just a tourist: to get close to gruesome crucifixion ceremonies in the Philippines, he wangles a press card. "I have justified this practice ... I figure, what is `legitimate press'? He then recounts with horror the brawling of the local media circus in front of the crosses where real nails are being driven in, and concludes "I was relatively respectful." Much food for thought here about the technical accomplishment but also the overall status of these increasingly popular digital expeditions.

Godzilla vs Tamagotchi

http://www.jitterbug.com/gvt /gvt.shtml

Godzilla is here cast as the good guy, but it's hard to avoid a sneaking sympathy with his cyberpet victim as it scuttles about to avoid being squashed by a giant reptilian foot. After a while, though, this inspired example of Shockwave abuse becomes addictive, in a sadistic sort of way. "Ooh, I don't like this game," squeals the luckless Tama, voiced by the site's designer, Kristen Brennan, whose droll, geek-girl homepage is also worth a look. Low scorers are instructed to commit ritual suicide: alternatively they could follow the links to related online fun including Traumagotcha (bombs and baseball bats as weapons of choice), and more healthily, the Happy House Virtual Hamster.

eXposure

http://www.exposure.co.uk/ exposure.html

Young filmmakers aspiring to be the next Shane Meadows could do worse than follow the advice on offer here: stop aspiring, start doing. As well as Robert Rodriguez's wise words, useful details of competitions, festivals and those all-important networking occasions, while site creator Dale Murchie's own "Complete Eejits' Guide to Filmmaking" offers practical advice for novices, including a homage to gaffer tape. How to come up with an idea to rival Reservoir Dogs? "Have a film pile-up. List a couple of movies, pretend each is a car and start ramming them into each other ... look at the wreckage and see if you can make a new movie."

Digital Freedom Network

http://www.dfn.org/

The simple concept here is to Web-publish material banned or censored in its place of origin. So here are press articles, letters and political cartoons from around the world, with profiles of their authors and details of their - often dire - current predicaments. Cuba, most of Africa and China figure heavily - there's a current exclusive from the exiled Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng. Not much from Europe, but there are some satirical cartoons on the Marc Dutroux paedophile case that were refused distribution in Belgium. Publication here may still rebound on the authors - a Cuban poet whose work appeared on the site last week has subsequently had his phone disconnected. Anything goes, unless of a pornographic or "terrorist" bent. The site is a private initiative from a philanthropic telecoms millionaire.