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Picks of the Week: 10th July 2000

Punk Rock in the UK 1976-1979
The Picks Team used to be a bunch of anarchists, but now they've all grown up and listen to Celine Dion. Okay, so maybe that last bit's not true, but they still like a good old pogo round the living room, listening to the likes of Sham 69, Terry & The Idiots, and X Ray Spex. This site is like a giant punk rock encyclopaedia - name a band from the era, and there's probably information on them here. We even discovered that the Angelic Upstarts used to kick a pig's head around on stage. Nice eh?
The Nelson Society
As if the Sex Pistols weren't heroes enough, Lord Nelson is more likely to be remembered for eras to come, even though he didn't swear on the Bill Grundy Show. This site is straightforward but has a wealth of information on everyone's favourite naval commander. Lurking within these pages there's an actual society you can join, and it's a mere £15 a year, but apart from that, there's oodles of stuff on the man himself, including a biography, a history of his battles, and you can even buy a bronze bust for £85.
TateGallery.org.uk (and related sites)
Next up, a marvellous ruse... a gentleman by the name of Nick Crowe has come along and bought a bunch of official-looking domain names for the main British galleries. The Tate one (quote: "we're blowing the Dome out of the water") presents some garish colours and a midi-reworking of MacArthur Park (the real site is at http://www.tate.org.uk/). But there's more, another amateurish looking one for the Hayward Gallery and the National Gallery, also assault your senses. Thing is, they're not meant to be nasty, and don't disparage the galleries at all, they're just fun additions, and they're only going to be live for a few months before kindly Nick gives them back to the relevant institutions.
A13 Artscape
For a start, we love the Flash intro, it looks really cool. This entire project doesn't sound too interesting at first glance, but the site disproves this theory, and the whole design and look of the site is a lesson to web designers everywhere. Quoting Ben Heywood of the Arts Council of England, "The A13 Artscape brings together the skills of artists with a real will to improve people's living conditions and access to the arts: we feel it is one of the most significant projects in the UK." We can't argue with that. It sums it up nicely, and it's essentially a project based around the East London road, encompassing architecture, design, and community performance art.
Freaky Trigger
Just in case our punk rock site earlier was not to your tastes, we thought we'd present this music zine as an alternative. It may not look like much, but it's jam packed full of content, and that's what counts. The "hated music" section makes for interesting reading, nobody escapes from the wrath of Tanya Headon (the writer). But it's not all bitterness and hatred at the music world... okay, most of it is...

Sites Featured in Picks of the Week:

Punk Rock in the UK 1976-1979 - two pints of lager and a packet of crisps, please.
The Nelson Society - contemplating his naval.
TateGallery.org.uk - web tomfoolery.
A13 Artscape - more interesting than the M25.
Freaky Trigger - includes hated music, so where's Celine Dion then?

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Previous Weeks' Picks:

[ 3rd July 00 | 26th June 00 | 19th June 00 | 12th June 00 ]