Everytime he reads a web page that I've updated or added for our softball team, a teammate of mine somewhat jokingly smites me with his "get a life" ribbing. Apparently, spending time writing anything so whimsical as a web page for a local softball is a sign of an empty life somehow. Reading the stuff, however, bears no such stigma, at least for that smug fellow. I'm often torn between amusement and annoyance with people like that: amused by their dichotomous values, and annoyed by their unconditional notion of web authoring as a waste of anyone's time. In a prior issue of Belly of the Whale, I prattled on about the graffitti-like quality of the web. We write it, and you read it. However, graffitti is more spontaneous than pages like this, and often visually and passively forced upon us by the public nature of its location. But we don't drive by these pages. They're not posted on school walls or on the sides of passing trains or buses. We cyberians make an effort to find them. How did you get here? How did my teammate get to our softball page? He was told it was there, and he turned on his computer, started his ISP service, dialed up, specified the site, and "went" there, prompted by vanity, or curiousity, or boredom, or who knows what reasons. And who cares? This guy reminds me of the people who post messages on some of the more outré usenet groups announcing that all the people who use such newsgroups are sick. I guess I'll try to stick with the amusement rather than the annoyance. Without all these folks, the readers, the writers, the critics, the lurkers, the outspoken and the unheard, the web would be a very, very boring place.

There is one site that I've been following for over a year now, and I feel compelled to plug it here because of its astonishingly high quality of design and content. It's the Internet Movie Database. This site is perhaps the most comprehensive, well-presented, completely indexed and cross-referenced database of information of any kind that I've ever come across on the Internet. If you're at all interested in any aspect of cinema, then you should spend some time poking about this site. Even if you haven't seen a movie in twenty years and hate all things Hollywood, a visit there is merited simply because of its presentation, ease of use, and wealth of information. (I wonder if the people who maintain that site should "get a life"?) One of the most engaging aspects of this database is that it's user-maintained. That means that the websters who use and read the site are also the source for most of its data. Anyone can add anything from a simple one-to-ten rating of a movie to a complete review. And if you're ever stuck on who said what in which movie, you'll probably be able to find your answer there. So who said "All of life's riddles are answered in the movies", and in what film?

Thanks for stopping by. I update this column a few times each month to discuss various issues ranging from software development to the meaning of life. Please check back soon.