Websites

Flying Pig Gallery

http://www.flying-pig.co.uk/

Not only pigs, but hopping sheep and a Web-surfing spider feature in this cardboard cut-out bestiary. Artist Rob Ives specialises in self- assembly paper animals, available here in kit form at very reasonable prices. The models are animated: cranking a handle makes the chickens scratch, the executive cuckoo pop out of his briefcase and the spider, well, surf. The human race is represented by an "Impatient Outpatient" - a rather Addams Family-like hand tapping its fingers in the waiting- room. Perhaps best of all is the online template for one arm of a Zen monk - to create the sound of one hand clapping: "Through the crank and the cam, the cardboard engineer can stroll through the garden of enlightenment and dip a toe in the pool of infinity." This must be one of the few occasions when sculpture can be said to be "published".

The Heart: an Online Exploration

http://sln2.fi.edu/biosci/heart.html

A Valentine's site for the exceptionally unsqueamish, this page from a Philadelphia science museum comes complete with Pink Floydian heartbeat. The all-important, inverted pear-shaped organ is shown in both diagrammatic and uncompromisingly real versions, complete with Quicktime open heart surgery video. "As the patient's chest cavity is opened, notice the steam that rises from the electric scalpel as it sears the blood vessels." Elsewhere, Dr Joel Posner gives Healthy Heart Advice, and there are useful dietary and exercise tips. Be Heart Smart!

Jean-Luc Godard

http://ixvm.com/godard/

One of this director's movies famously concluded: "End of story - end of cinema." By contrast, his official website hasn't really got started yet. JLG made his first authorised Web appearance early last year, giving the Webmeister a free hand, since "it's all lies anyway". Plans included a filmography, unreleased footage, and excerpts from his Cahiers crit, but so far there's only a press pack for the re-release of Le Mepris, and a few photographs. Despite a life devoted to questioning the film medium, Godard seems lost in the cosmos when it comes to cyberspace. The page is hosted by the New York "umbrella" site IXVM, which also gives space to William Burroughs and Timothy Leary, both well represented elsewhere on the Web. Jean-Luc, however, may be mailed direct from the site: try jlg@ valgus.com.

Welcome to Rural Wales

http://www.ruralwales.com

An effectively designed regional site aimed at tourists and business interests, with a district-by-district listing offering details of local history, walks and facilities from Brecon to Ystradgylais. Extras include VRML panoramas of Newtown and Aberystwyth, and David Bellamy on the merits of the Festival of the Countryside "green tourism" plan. More surprising is a link to Disney World (the Magic of Wales pavilion at the Epcot Center). "New development officer for Blaenau Ffestiniog," announces the local news section. Pretty parochial, but then that's the point.

Tantrum

http://www.mindflightent.com/ tantrum/tantrum_main.html

One of a number of sites from a Web publishing showcase for "electronic graphic novels". Eventually, these will find their way on to CD-Rom or even print, but there are complete stories here designed to read online. And a weird bunch they are: "A Day at the Beach", for instance, has the look of a Sixties photoroman and concerns two sunbathers menaced by a baby sea monster and a mad scientist. By contrast, "The Big Mean Weenie" concerns a factory worker turned into a giant hot dog. ("A tale of love on the bun.") Start saving for those CDs now.

Bill Pannifer