Web sites

All About Angels

http://www.mnementh.demon.co.uk/aaa.htm

Linking cyberspace with the empyrean, this UK addition to the host of angelic sites opens with a winsome cupid or two but goes on to explore the full multiple-bodied, six-winged and four-headed flying squad. Metatron, Kemuel, Nathanael, Gabriel, Zadkiel, Hashmal, Yahriel and Muriel, plus all nine choirs of the heavenly hierarchy, are described (though not depicted) here, and there are links to similar pages with titles such as Angel Times and Angels - The Good The Bad and the Ugly. Cherub, the site's creator, is Minneapolis-born but met her British husband over the Internet. The resulting "little angel" of her own arrived a few months ago and is featured on her homepage in ultrasound-scan and newborn formats. In the words of the site, "a definite must for Celestial enthusiasts".

MaxOpus - The Official Web Site of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies

http://www.MaxOpus.com/

Last month's Proms offered two works from the Orkneys' greatest living composer, but those wanting more can access more than 200 sound samples at this technically streamlined site as well as video clips and full details of all his published works. Reviews and CD-ordering facilities are all here, along with notices for recent and upcoming performances by "Max", including a new Sinfonia Antarctica to rival that of Vaughan Williams, scheduled for a premiere in 2001. A recent work is the lighthearted and satirical Mavis in Las Vegas, Mavis being the contraction of his name offered by a hotel booking computer unfamiliar with the British contemporary music scene. One of the Net's most comprehensive music sites.

No Place for a Woman: the family in film noir and other essays

http://www.obs.net/Noir/noir-toc.html

The webmeister for the American Dental Association takes time between fillings to upload his collegiate meditations on "noir", here defined by a growly Richard Widmark in a soundclip as films about "life on the streets, shady characters, crooked cops, twisted love and bad luck". The essays themselves keep jargon at bay, and acknowledge but often take issue with some of the BFI standard texts on the subject. A site to read rather than just visit, but enriched by a photo and poster gallery featuring Bogart, Bacall, Mitchum, Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame and all the usual suspects. No obvious links to his dental site (Marathon Man, luckily, being wrong decade, wrong genre).

The World Wide Wall

http://ac.rosebud.com/

Scratch animations, doodles, graffiti - the more primitive and "spontaneous" the form, the more vulnerable to online simulation by a clever bit of Javascript. But while short on transgressive thrills, this spray-it-yourself page does provide the outline of a subway train as template for visitor's efforts, and its paintbox enables hose and aerosol effects. Personalised writings-on-the-wall may be added to the site's back catalogue for all to see (and, if they wish, to modify). Co-presented by the ArtCrimes group, committed to preserving images of real-life graffiti from around the world.

The Intoximeter

http://www.webtender.com/ handbook/toximeter.html

This online breathalyser warns users not to take it too seriously, and many of them probably won't be in a condition to. Drinkers are asked to enter body weight, units of alcohol consumed, and time elapsed since last indulging. Sobering-up time is then estimated to the nearest minute, based on blood-alcohol level. Corresponding physical symptoms listed here range from getting "a little tense and hot" to "Game over - you die", with staggering, nausea and seeing double in between. At 1.0 on the scale - loosening control of muscles and emotional feelings - most people stop drinking, the page warns. Sober up by adding your favourite cocktail to the database elsewhere on this bartender's site.

Bill Pannifer